


Tiptoe Through The Tulips

by EstelleDusk



Series: BadAss Robotnik Agents [5]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Hatred, and one of them refered to their own past self phobia, i never go into actual detail but if even the thought of it squicks you out, literally all characters with speaking roles in this fic rn are trans btw, quiet comfort is given, someone is back on a medical table and there's references to blood, you know. the usual stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27072502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EstelleDusk/pseuds/EstelleDusk
Summary: Bot is a dad, Stone finds out a couple of things, Bot's kid comes to town, there's some comfort, Bot's eyeliner gets messed up, stone gets anxious about protecting himhonestly this fic is all over the place and only about 2k words(serious summary now)--It was New Agent Day and everything was perfectly fine and Stone had absolutely no reason to worry about the Doctor being completely alone with the new agent with no backup anywhere within 300 feet of him....right?
Relationships: Dr. Eggman | Dr. Robotnik & Agent Meadow, Dr. Eggman | Dr. Robotnik & Agent Stone, Dr. Eggman | Dr. Robotnik/Agent Stone
Series: BadAss Robotnik Agents [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775713
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	Tiptoe Through The Tulips

**Author's Note:**

> I'll work on the twitter thread fun facts tomorrow maybe, depends on work

It was New Agent Day in the secret base.

It had been some time since Stone started working under the name Robotnik, long enough that he could not only appreciate today for what it is but to also have been able to bet on the new agent _long_ before they joined the party.

The newly named Agent Meadow had been on the Doctor’s radar since the second year that Stone started working here. He didn’t pay much attention to them, but he knew enough details to make a bet when he found out this _kid_ was not only the estranged questioning child of _someone_ important, but that they were an elite hacker and selling their parent’s secret information to other governments.

Everyone knew it would only be a matter of time until the military caught the kid or the Doctor was sent after them. And everyone wanted to be the first agents to meet the kid. Test their mettle before anyone else.

In the end, it didn’t matter, because the Doctor went on his own.

Which was… not something new, but it was rare enough since Stone got here that he was confused. But that was none of his business. His only job today was to sit here and finish reading his book, maybe mingle with the other agents. He thought Avery was with Timber today, maybe he could join them and play laser tag with the badniks, that would be fun.

But the Doctor was all alone with this kid, no guards outside the door. And they were _in_ the secret base, not the normal base. River had curiously texted the group earlier when she saw the pair walk in together, Meadow fully awake and aware of their surroundings, taking in the sights with a carefree hum.

Was…

Was the Doctor being _nice_ to the kid? They were around Avery’s age, so maybe? Actually now that he thought about it, it would be nice for Avery to have someone else around their age. But they’ve both been in that room forever now, and no agent was nearby.

Stone knew that for a fact.

He was sitting in the main room with the map of the trackers. He had seen Meadow’s come online 5 minutes ago and still no agents moved towards the new agent and the Doctor. He could tell which room they were in, maybe he should just check on them. Just a knock. He knew it took 30 minutes after the tracker came online for the Doctor to close up and finish up. He could get to the room in 10 minutes, 7 if he rushed and ran into someone like he expected would happen, 3 minutes if he was extremely lucky.

He set a timer for 25 minutes and got up. He waited outside the door the Doctor was behind until the timer went off. Then his fingers hovered over a pre-written text to the man on the other side of the room.

Should he knock?

Should he text?

Should he just walk in?

Hesitant, Stone canceled the text and finally called out, “Doctor?”

Moments passed and his answer was a tug on his heart.

Eyes firmly shut, Stone entered the room, locking the door behind him and followed his senses to find the Doctor. He opened his mouth and immediately was pulled close, gloved fingers wrapped around his wrist.

Instinct told him to open his eyes.

He raised his free hand to them instead.

Five years still seemed too soon to unabashedly witness him in all his glory.

“Doctor, I shouldn’t have intruded.”

“Stone.”

“I haven't seen anything, I know you don’t like that.”

“Open your eyes.”

“...Yes, Doctor.”

Blinking in the LED lighting, Stone saw the Doctor watching young Meadow on the table. He couldn’t read anything on the man’s face. He looked him over, noting the remnants of red sheen where blood landed on his clothes themselves. He noticed blood on the hand wrapped around his wrist. 

He turned his head towards Meadow, but kept his eyes on the Doctor, waiting for his silent cue. Once he got it, he _looked_.

Stone sharply inhaled.

He could guess who Meadow’s infamous and unknown-until-just-then parent was very easily. He was sure the rest of the agents would be able to tell too. Especially if child and parent stood together in the same room.

"Doctor?"

The eccentric man stared at the young agent on the table, adjusted the sheet over them once again, then sighed heavily.

"We talked first. I wanted to be sure this was the same child I gave up. They've known about me for a while, they...they were trying to find me. Knew I was _some_ kind of government lapdog and went from there. Well they sure found me! ...at the cost of the life they knew."

The Doctor clenched his fists and Stone held back a wince at the pressure still on his wrist.

"I gave them up for a reason! I ruin everything I touch, Aban, I didn't want them to be like me, but look at them, they are just like me. Right down to the crooked nose. You can't see it now but their eyes are mine… that's supposed to be a trait the father passes down, not the… not me."

The use of his chosen name startled him, he hadn't heard it outside of his dreams in years. He _knew_ the Doctor knew it. There was no way he didn't. He also knew Jade and Boulder knew it. But no one ever used their proper names except for Tim, and he's an exception, his Agent name is his chosen name.

The slow realization that the Doctor was the one to give birth to Meadow 20 something years ago also took Stone by surprise. He knew that every single one of the Robotnik Agents happened to be queer in some way, but he never bothered asking in what way, he just assumed…

Well, he supposed that's where that saying came from. That to assume makes an ass out of "u" and "me."

Stone didn't know what to say, so he didn't. He put his free hand on the Doctor’s shoulder, squeezed, and then leaned on him.

The Doctor stiffened before relaxing his muscles slowly. Bit by bit, until his fingers were intertwined with Stone's and his shoulders were slumped.

Meadow stayed sleeping before them, but Stone's internal clock said they would wake up soon. He wondered what they thought about their new name. Perhaps he should ask their chosen one and call them by it every now and then. He had liked hearing his own again.

A near silent beep startled them both and they glanced at the Doctor’s wrist where a holo-screen popped up. It took him a minute but Stone realized that he wasn't the only one that had timed New Agent Day down to the minute.

"I need to clean up." The Doctor stated, slowly pulling away from Stone. There was an emergency shower in the corner, no walls, no buttons. It would turn itself on the moment it detected someone beneath it. There was even a little stool nearby in case it was needed, and an incinerator in the other corner to burn bloodied clothes.

Stone didn't look at him even as he heard both machines turn on. He adjusted Meadow’s sheet again; they move quite a bit in their sleep.

Only once the Doctor returned to his side did he look at him. Him and his near-perfectly arranged figure. Stone could see where the Doctor wasn't as put-together as normal. His face mostly. His eyeliner needed to be re-applied, a bit of blush so he didn't look paler than normal.

Stone reached into his pocket, noting that he needed to burn or clean this jacket now just because of how long the blood has been on the sleeve. He pulled out his own make-up and looked between the palette and the Doctor’s face before deciding he didn't have anything pale enough.

"That bad, huh?"

"Eyeliner will just make it worse, but I have a stick if you really want."

"Keep it… however, I would take a latte."

Stone nodded and took a step back before stopping and looking between the pair again. "Will Agent Meadow be joining us for drinks?"

"Topped with cinnamon."

He didn't question how the Doctor knew that. They had a very thorough file on every new agent. Everything the agents could find on the newbies, for records sake before utter destruction of the originals and the new agent's death faked. Stone could have read the file. It was available until the end of the day. Then it would be redacted to hell and back.

That's why none of them knew what landed Jade with her name, but everyone knew what earned Stone's his own. And everyone knew what Meadow had done to join the gang. 

He returned to the room and saw the Doctor standing outside, trying and failing to not watch the door. Meadow must be awake. He handed the latte to the other man before adjusting his grip on the other two.

He had just taken a sip when he heard his name hummed curiously. The Doctor held the name on his tongue, carefully enunciating each letter. He heard his _name_ murmured a few more times before he spoke up, "....yes, Doctor?"

"It's a good name. Aban. Found it in a book or something? It was never on your file. No one you knew had that name, it wasn't in your search history. One day you just became Aban."

"My mother. She said it's what she would have called me if she had known sooner."

Another thoughtful hum before the Doctor raised his cup. "Better late than never."

Stone cheered with him, but again stopped before he could sip. As the moment he brought it to his lips, the Doctor stopped his cup and murmured again. "Its a shame Aban is dead like the rest of us. You didn't even get to use it very long."

Then he drank.

It was true and Stone found himself wishing they had stronger drinks for this conversation. At least then he could blame his next highly impulsive action on the alcohol. 

Stone took a long sip of his latte and turned to the Doctor, offering a bright smile in lieu of a welcoming hand since he had none free. "Hi, I'm Agent Aban Stone, would you be Agent Meadow?"

The silence seemed to last forever and _Aban_ slowly began to regret his idea that had obviously been stupid and he shouldn't have bothered, just because they were casual enough to kiss at times doesn't mean the genius would be welcome to a do-over for their introduction and what in the world had be been thinking, he's Stone now, not Aban, Aban is dead, the older man said so himself--

The Doctor chuckled, leaning backwards on the wall and relaxing his shoulders. "No, Agent Meadow is indisposed at the moment. I'm Doctor Ivo Robotnik."

"Its nice to meet you, Ivo." 

"The same, Aban."

Aban Stone and Ivo Robotnik smiled at each other, so consumed that they failed to notice the door quietly open and the young agent slip out of the room.

Meadow stared at them until they noticed the extra drink. "Is that mine? Dad, is this your boyfriend? Little soon to meet the family isn't it? So where's my room?"

"We haven't even kissed, you miscreant." Ivo growled, cheeks flushed and definitely looking better than he had before. And if Aban noticed his eyes a little misty from the title he received… he said nothing. 

Aban sipped his drink as he held back the comment he wanted to make, that they haven't kissed _today_. A record to be honest. The agent had started to look forward to new agent day since he always got kissed on it. 

But that was none of the kid's business. So he simply held out the spare drink. "I hope you like cinnamon, Agent Meadow. I'm Agent Stone, I take care of the morning coffees for everyone, so I'll be interested in knowing how you take yours."

"Mocha matcha chai tea latte with foam and extra cinnamon on top." Meadow rattled off before taking a sip and blinking. They took another and another before squinting at Stone, who simply smiled and drank his own latte.

"You'll find, young agent, that Agent Stone takes drink mixing very seriously."

"I was a barkeep in a past life."

"Sure, Jan." Meadow muttered before quickly draining their drink, not caring about the temperature, but now forlorn staring at the empty cup. They'll learn to savor it one day, but that day was not today.

Ivo squinted, tilting his head at the reference and not quite remembering where it was from. Aban took pity on him and muttered the show's name, The Brady Bunch, before turning and starting his walk down the hall. 

"Your room is this way, Meadow. You're welcome to settle in for the rest of the day, all of your new equipment is already waiting for you and I'm sure you'll want to play around with your computer all night, but dinner is at 8pm and its chili night, so I'll send someone to get you."

"Avery. We'll send Avery, Stone," Ivo decided, "best to get the younger folk in the complex used to each other as soon as possible."

Meadow reached for the drink in the Doctor's hand and he gave it to them before stealing Stone's drink for himself. "Does everyone know who I am?"

"Your parentage wasn't in your records, no surprise there considering I erased that decades ago… how about a little wager? How long until the other agents figure it out? You'll have to call me Doctor like everyone else, think you can handle that, miscreant?"

Stone watched father and child share the same trickster twinkle in their eyes and wondered just how long they could go before someone called them both out on being too similar.

He placed his own bet and took theirs.


End file.
